Small Business Spotlight: Mark Williams and PerfectBee

PerfectBee started in 2015 after Mark Williams’ daughter discovered the bookThe Beekeeper’s Bible on a family vacation. Prior to this, Mark had never considered beekeeping for himself, let alone starting a beekeeping website like PerfectBee. But his daughter’s fascination was contagious, and Mark set out to create a modern, online presence for other people interested in beekeeping. Now, Mark is a proud backyard beekeeper himself, with one Bee Thinking Langstroth hive already in his backyard and another hive on the way this Spring!

PerfectBee offers beekeeping education, resources, and retails the hives and supplies Mark endorses. The site andFacebook page offer a wealth of facts and tips about bees and beekeeping for anyone who has recently discovered their own fascination with honeybees. We are proud to partner with PerfectBee’s founder, Mark Williams, to educate and equip a new generation of backyard beekeepers with quality hives and supplies.

Like Bee Thinking, PerfectBee emphasizes the importance of education. According to Mark:

"The educational side is essential. There is an ever-growing curiosity about bees and beekeeping. We want to take that curiosity and foster it in a productive way. We need to educate people about the methodology of beekeeping. Just telling people to install a hive and practice beekeeping without much thought is irresponsible. But an informed approach to backyard beekeeping positions beekeeping in a really positive light and sets the beekeeper up for success."

For this reason, PerfectBee’s website is full of informative and comprehensive blog posts, written by a number of experienced and master beekeepers, tackling a variety of topics that are applicable to beginners and experts alike. Because Mark’s goal for the site is to be a starting point for beekeepers, the blog aims to be relatively neutral in terms of promoting one beekeeping philosophy over another. While, according to Mark, they do have “an inclination towards natural treatment-free beekeeping,” they also don’t want to exclude beekeepers who are not at that point with their hives or management style. Mark’s goal is to educate visitors about various beekeeping philosophies, and empower the site’s readers to choose the philosophy that works best for them.

﻿Mark Williams, with a Bee Thinking bottom board

The centerpiece of PerfectBee is a free, online beekeeping course that is divided into 3 parts and includes 92 detailed articles. What makes PerfectBee truly unique is their “1-2-3 approach” to beekeeping education:

Learn About Bees:The first step is to understand bees themselves: honeybee biology, how a colony functions, how honey and wax are produced, what constitutes good healthy forage for honeybees, swarming behavior, and more.

Your Beehive:What hive type is best for you, your lifestyle, and your goals; how to set up your beehive for a successful season; what tools and accessories you’ll need; and how to get bees.

A Healthy Beehive:Learning about threats to honeybee populations, like mites, habitat loss, and pesticides.